Hodgson defends England World Cup disappointment

England manager Roy Hodgson says he has no regrets regarding his side’s World Cup showing.

The Three Lions saw their fate sealed yesterday as Costa Rica beat Italy, leaving them unable to qualify for the knockout phase after just two games.

Losses to Italy and Uruguay weren’t enough to mathematically ensure that England were out of the competition, but the Central Americans’ shock win against the Azzurri made this year England’s worst showing at the tournament since 1958.

However, when asked by BBC Sport if he had any regrets about the way this summer had gone prior to Costa Rica’s win, Hodgson replied:

“No,”

He added: “Results colour everything. We’ve worked so hard, done so much preparation for this tournament. We think we came here well prepared but we’ve failed.

“We obviously had really big hopes we were going to make the nation proud by going far in the tournament and we haven’t done that, so any words on any other subjects are pretty empty at the moment.”

England have yet to play Costa Rica and will do so next week in a dead-rubber game. Italy will take on Uruguay in a clash that will decide who takes the second possible qualification spot.